The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has warned against regulators over reacting in the wake of the recent terrorist attempt on a Delta Air Lines passenger aircraft bound for the USA.

“It takes real political maturity to remain calm and not fall into the trap of knee jerk reactions such as imposition of new security measures,” it says.

“Additional security measures are only justified when it can be demonstrated that the benefits outweigh the additional burdens they impose on society.” it adds.

Following the 26 December attempted bombing of a Delta Air Lines flight from Amsterdam Schiphol to Detroit, the Dutch airport announced it would be introducing full body scanners.

But the AAPA says “there is insufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness” of full body scanners, “to justify their immediate deployment”.

“Rather than focus on ever more intrusive passenger screening, the key lesson from this, and previous terrorist incidents, is the critical importance of effective intelligence gathering and analysis,” it adds.